Water pumping station with an integral valve vault

Abstract

A waste or storm water pumping station and system used to pump water from a lower elevation to a higher elevation during the process of moving or managing the water is disclosed herein. The pumping station has a wet well collection chamber with a sloped floor and an integral valve vault chamber cast within the pump station body, which results in increased storage capacity in the wet well chamber for pump station components. Additionally, the pumping station may be installed as a single unit of equal depth to eliminate differential settlement and multiple or uneven excavations.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 818,700, filed May 2, 2013, entitled “Water Pumping Station Having Integral Valve Vault,” the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to waste and storm water management, and more specifically to an improved waste or storm water pumping station and system.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]A variety of gravity-based systems have long been used to move waste and / or storm water through management and conveyance systems and on to treatment or storage systems. These management and conveyance systems often require pumping stations to lift the water from a lower elevation to a higher elevation such that gravity can be used to move the waste and / or storm water through the system. Lifting pump stations and systems typically have two major components: (1) a collection or pumping co...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a new and useful water pumping station and system with a single-structure enclosure having an integral valve vault. This system has several technical benefits, including being simpler in fabrication and installation, having a smaller footprint, eliminating differential settlement, requiring a single tier excavation rather than a two-tier excavation, reducing the size and depth of the excavation required, and improving safety. The system also has a higher storage capacity by combining the valve vault chamber and the wet well collection chamber into a single-unit of uniform length and locating the valve vault chamber in the unusable space of the wet well. These technical effects make the new system more versatile and functional than previous devices.

Problems solved by technology

While pumping stations have long been used to raise waste or storm water to higher elevations within a management and conveyance system, there are serious deficiencies and inadequacies with the prior art pumping systems.

A significant problem with having two separate structures is that each structure will settle at a different rate and depth, commonly referred to as differential settlement.

When differential settlement occurs, the piping between the two structures is compromised resulting in breaks and leaks that require excavating the area around and between the structures to repair the damage and stop the leaks.

Even after a break has been repaired, there is still the possibility that the piping will break or leak again in the future.

While the problem of separate water pump station structures can be somewhat addressed by fixedly connecting the two separate structures together with fasteners such as bolts, as was done in U.S. Pat. No. 7,150,290 to Smith (“Smith”), which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, the problem of differential settlement can still occur due to the different sizes and depths of the two structures.

One other deficiency with the Smith structure is that the valve vault chamber is approximately one half the depth of the collection chamber, which results in space beneath the valve vault chamber that is filled with soil when it could be used to increase the storage capacity of the collection chamber.

Either installation may result in differential settlement, which may cause the entire structure to tilt out of plumb.

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